“Nothing like” seems to overstate things, at least to me.

Certainly, the sound in Japanese doesn’t sound aspirated the way English speakers do and expect to hear, but in listening to all the recordings at Forvo for this word, an initial “ts” seems like an entirely reasonable and fairly faithful approximation of the Japanese sound.

Granted, I would expect someone who has listened to significant amounts of Japanese to hear differences that an outsider like me wouldn’t notice, and consequently to judge differences as more pronounced than I would. Even with that in mind, “nothing like” seems like quite the exaggeration.

Moreover, and back to the original point, the pronouciation with an initial “ts” in English seems pretty obvious, just as dropping the “t” to conform to typical English phonotactics does. I wouldn’t see any reason to rule either pronunciation choice out.

You’re not responsible for meeting this man’s needs. You don’t need to trick him. “Please leave me alone.” If he does not do this simple thing, then you have not committed any offence and you can train yourself not to feel bad about it. You already meditate, so you might make your tendency to feel bad about this into an object of meditation.

Unfortunately, you can’t control his behavior. He might still try to sit down next to you and talk to you about things that don’t interest you. I don’t know what more you can do than ask him to stop doing this and hope he complies. “Please stop doing this. I’m just not interested. I prefer to be alone.” It is compassionate to say nothing more than this.

As for why you’re like this, that’s very likely because someone taught to you to care about other people’s feelings and didn’t teach you that their feelings are not your fault. This seems pretty common.

The stories you tell yourself about why he does this and the stories you tell yourself to explain your own behavior… they probably don’t help you much, do they?

Peace.

How strange. I never pronounced it any other way. I don’t think of it as a regionalism. I grew up near Toronto.

Strange conceptions?

Yes. That’s humor.

Tsunami doesn’t start with a T sound, It’s just a strange artifact of the romanization of the Japanese sounds.

Yes, and English speakers have an established collective inconsistency regarding whether to pronounce loanwords anywhere on the spectrum from (somewhat) faithfully to the original language to transliterated to entirely reinterpreted with English pronouciation norms. To declare that the “t” in that word is silent (as Ken has done, at least once) overstates the situation. At most, it’s optional.

I pronounce those cities as two syllables, although it doesn’t bother me when others don’t. I also pronounce “Mangione” as three, even though I don’t overdo it on the Italian vowels.

Typically, yes. Pronunciation mistakes are not ruled incorrect unless they change the spelling of the name or word, such as adding consonants. Ken corrects the pronunciation without calling the mistake out, usually, although he labors under strange conceptions, such as insisting in not pronouncing the initial “t” in “tsunami” and “tsar”.

People can choose. It is even better when they choose.

It’s fairly well established that experiencing the moment does more to promote one’s mental health than not.

The alternative is certain death. If I were satisfied with that outcome, I’d already be dead.

There is an emerging field of research that reframes addiction as a reasonable reaction to traumatic conditions. This doesn’t explain all addiction, but it seems to explain a large amount of it. We are learning how complex a condition addiction can be and that makes it easier to feel compassion for these folks.

A hopeful path towards peace for people who struggle with stress at their job.

There’s a certain amount of Gambler’s Fallacy in this, too: I’ll keep going, because it’s going to turn around.

Demonizing people who disagree with you makes them dig in their heels and elect the dangerous candidate and party, in spite of their best interests. Demonizing those people feels satisfying and necessary in the moment, but it ultimately backfires.

The so-called enlightened people can’t be counted on to vote. (I say this as one of those so-called enlightened people, albeit not in your country and therefore unable to shift the balance with you. I vote in every one of my country’s elections, I strongly dislike the leader of the party I need to vote defensively for. I do it anyway.)

Until you folks figure these two things out, this is your new reality.

(I don’t think you can save many of the extremists, but you folks could relatively easily stop the extremist factory by deploying more strategic compassion. But that’s just, like, my opinion, man.)

The System is held together with baling wire and gum. Never forget that.

You will get through this, but you might need help and to help others along the way. I wish you many goods and cheese.

Yup. Watch The Good Place, then ask again.

“Are there no prisons? Are there no work houses?”

“I’ll try not to swear around you. I’m sorry. I will probably not be perfect, but I assure you I’m trying.”

That’s enough.

I assume you are genuinely sorry and have decided you want to behave differently around them.

In that case, I’m not sure you’re missing anything and I’m not even sure you have a problem to solve here.

I understand better. I might relate, too.

I’m not the type to keep relationships “alive” by checking in, but at the same time, when someone re-enters my life after even years, it can be as though no time had passed. If I can help, I will. We can chat for minutes or hours. I’m happy to pick up where we left off.

I have the distinct impression that many other people don’t operate this way. I do. Do you?

The same as any friendship: mutual support and love. What you’re describing sounds like an acquaintance to me, not a friend, if conversations don’t develop past small talk. Maybe that’s what you’re missing.

Where are my Rogers home internet customers at? 🇨🇦

Server-side paywalling? Everything old is new again.

As for the difference, there’s a lot more Learned Helplessness in the Republic of Gilead than there is in, say, northern Europe. 🤷‍♂️